After three sessions of negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement in the National Hockey League, little is known about what has been discussed—only that both the players and management have expressed positive feelings about the tone and nature of the early talks.

Among the big issues to discuss are how the owners and players split hockey-related revenues, as well as other financial issues such as rules about player contracts and the way that the teams share their portion of revenues. The negotiations represent not only a necessity to decide these things, but also an opportunity for the NHL and NHLPA to come together and agree on policies to grow and enhance the game.

With talks set to resume Tuesday in Toronto, Sporting News presents three ways that the league and union can take great strides to make sure that not only the positive status quo continues in hockey, but that the future presents a chance to truly move forward.

PLAYER SAFETY

There already has been good cooperation in this area, but there is much more to be done, including players and management continuing to work together to refine concussion-assessment protocols and make it clear to everyone that brain health is not an acceptable place to take risks.

Equipment reforms and quiet rooms can only do so much—the players themselves still have to take responsibility for their health. The story of Paul Martin, who admitted to playing the first three games of the playoffs with a concussion before finally telling trainers about his symptoms, is not one that should be repeated. In revealing his injury, Martin said he felt the Penguins were being “overly cautious” after concussions suffered by Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang. Everyone involved, on both sides, needs to continue to work to eradicate the idea that there is such a thing as being “overly cautious” with a brain injury. If you have symptoms, you don’t play.

While that responsibility falls largely on the players to change the culture of the game they play, there are things the labor talks can do to foster a safer environment. One would be to use the opening games of the NHL preseason as a laboratory for potential rules changes, allowing the players to provide feedback in a way that they cannot when the NHL holds its research-and-development camps.

Then there is the discipline aspect, in which the past season showed that Brendan Shanahan is in a no-win situation as the league’s master of supplemental discipline. Further codification of disciplinary guidelines are needed—how much import is attached to a player’s status as a repeat offender, for example—and would help to remove the feeling of randomness so often attached to the process.

One thing that would not be random at all would be if the league and players could agree to a system that would penalize not only the plays that are furthest outside the bounds of the rules, but also patterns of misbehavior that lead to those most dangerous hits.

Take boarding, one of the most common penalties to result in fines and suspensions. There were 43 players in the NHL last season who committed multiple boarding penalties, including 19 who went to the box three or more times. A fine for a second boarding penalty, and a suspension for any boarding penalty beyond that, would do more to deter the style of play that leads to injury hits than simply punishing the hits that do result in players getting hurt. It’s about going after the cause, not the symptoms.

GOING GLOBAL

It is in the best interests of hockey for NHL players to continue to participate in the Olympics, even if doing so in Sochi, Russia, will be more difficult logistically than the last Games in Vancouver.

Instead of just planning for the Olympics, though, the NHL and NHLPA should put a plan in place to make the schedule more easily adaptable to international competition, and make it a more common part of the sport. A real World Cup would be one possibility, but there are other ideas down the road that would be good for the game, including a revival of the Super Series.

Such an idea obviously would require further negotiations between the NHL and KHL, but having the NHL and NHLPA come together now on plans for regular international competition, in Olympic years and not, would benefit the game, especially with the potential revenue streams that would open up.

After Sochi, the next Winter Olympics are in South Korea in 2018. There should not even be a question about whether the NHL is going when that time comes, and hopefully, by then, midseason international play will be a more routine thing. It’s good for the game, and the time off for the vast majority of players is much-needed in the midst of a long season.

As globalization continues, the NHL also should remain committed to playing regular-season games in Europe, which it has indicated it will after a one-year hiatus this season necessitated by the uncertainty of the labor situation.

REALIGNMENT

The NHL thought it had a plan in place back in December to switch from six divisions to four, while alleviating the geographical nuisance of the Winnipeg Jets being in the Southeast Division. The NHLPA would not accept the plan, so realignment has to be on the table during these negotiations.

The union’s concern about teams from eight-team divisions having less of a chance to make the playoffs than teams from seven-team divisions was valid, but what really torpedoed realignment for 2012-13 was the uncertainty about how much more travel a post-realignment schedule would mean for the players.

The most obvious way to make a four-division setup work would be for the NHL to expand to 32 teams, which would make the union happy because of the jobs created and the owners happy because of the expansion fees they would collect, whether it be from Quebec, southern Ontario, Seattle or anywhere else.

Until the league is ready to add two teams, though, an easier compromise would be to go with four divisions for scheduling purposes, but maintain two 15-team conferences to determine playoff berths and seedings.

The plan to have every team face every other team, home and away, is a good one, but it does add travel to an already grueling schedule. There are solutions available, though, including a prohibition on back-to-back games in different time zones, limiting out-of-conference play late in the season (which should be done anyway to promote playoff races) and extending the regular season by a week on either end to allow for more off days between those 82 games.

The important thing is that both sides consider in negotiations that the NHL of today is not the NHL that will exist at the end of the deal they hammer out. The league and the union must work together to make that league of the future as strong as possible, for the good of the game.